Action Sport Athlets amazed audience in Minneapolis

The second stop of the ASA Action Sports World Tour (ASA ASWT) was a suprise for many as the 'usual suspects' took a while to find their groove wheras new faces contributed a great deal of action.

The second stop of the ASA Action Sports World Tour (ASA ASWT) had as many thrills and spills and unexpected twists and turns as a NASCAR race when the first Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples contests of the season took place at Target Center in Minneapolis.

Twenty-two athletes took to the ramps - 10 skateboarders and 12 bikers - to start paving their way toward this year's Action Sports World Championships.

For two men the trip has begun; Pierre Luc Gagnon (CAN) and Ryan Guettler (AUS) captured first place titles in Skateboard Vert and Big Air BMX Triples, respectively, and amazed the audience with the skill and big tricks they had come to see.

The 'usual suspects' took a while to find their groove in Skateboard Vert. Gagnon and Danny Mayer (USA) each failed to put together a successful 10-wall run for the first two rounds of the four allotted in the contest. Going into the third round Marcelo Bastos (Brazil), Rob Lorifice (USA) and Adam Taylor (USA) were in podium position with Buster Halterman (USA) and Alex Perelson (USA) hot on their heels. Round three, however, saw Gagnon and Mayer lay down the boards and pass the competition, sliding into their comfort zones of first and second place. When the contest ended PLG had captured his 6th consecutive ASA Action Sports World Tour Skateboard Vert title and Mayer held onto second, with Bastos rolling into third.

In Big Air BMX Triples the competition was intense right from the start. The degree of difficulty displayed in the early rounds of the head to head format challenged the men to push themselves harder than expected, resulting
in more risk and yet, also more rewards. The contest began minus one competitor, hometown rider Tom Haugen, who took a nasty spill during the warm-up practice session, resulting in his opponent's, Daniel Dhers' (BRZ), automatic advancement to the semi-finals. Dhers was seeded second and expected to be a finalist, but in the semi-finals Dhers' too suffered a contest-ending mishap, allowing his match-up, Guettler, to advance. In the finals, T.J. Ellis (USARyan Guettler and Rob Darden (USA) had two runs each to prove their worthiness.

Ellis captured the crowd's vote with the double back flip, triple tailwhip combination he executed in his first run, but Guettler's 1080 to double tailwhip received the judge's nod and the gold medal. Guettler had recently lost to Ellis when each had previously performed the same run of tricks, but that Guettler's execution prevailed.

"I thought I had lost," said Guettler in shock after his win. "I thought he had beaten me again after hearing the crowd's reaction. I knew I was going to have to step it up in my last run. But, I choked and had to rely on my
first run,"

New comment